686 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 776 



As might be expected from the composition 

 of the board of editors the contents of the 

 Revue are primarily zoological, only a single 

 purely botanical title appearing in the list of 

 original articles and but five in the field of 

 hydrography. Noteworthy among these is a 

 prodromus for a renewed attack with the 

 " Fram " upon the problem of the North 

 Polar Basin by Eaould Amundsen. There is 

 also a predominance of fresh-water subjects 

 (16) over those (5) from marine fields which 

 is in part due to the editor's relationship to 

 the new fresh-water station at Lunz in the 

 Austrian Alps, and to the further fact that 

 many investigators in the marine field are 

 connected with the various branches of the 

 International Commission for the Investiga- 

 tion of the Sea or other governmental or insti- 

 tutional enterprise of a similar sort having 

 their own mediums for publication. Among 

 the original articles of a general character 

 are a Hydrobiological introduction by Pro- 

 fessor Weismann in the closing words of which 

 he reaffirms his adherence to the Darwinian 

 point of view as to the efficacy of minute 

 variations as over against mutations in the 

 process of evolution. A second introductory 

 article by Dr. John Murray on " The Distri- 

 bution of Organisms in the Hydrosphere as 

 ailected by Varying Chemical and Physical 

 Conditions" is a statement of problems and 

 results in marine biology in the light of recent 

 investigations in oceanography and limnology. 

 Professor Eichard Hertwig discusses the func- 

 tion of the fresh-water biological station in 

 present-day research and Professor Issel con- 

 tributes a general article on the biology of hot 

 springs. Two pages of unusual general inter- 

 est are those of Lohmann on the relation be- 

 tween pelagic deposits and the plankton of 

 the sea and of Nathansohn and Gran on the 

 general conditions of production in the sea. 



Intensive work, on the other hand, is repre- 

 sented by Dr. Gotzinger's carefully wrought 

 out linmological monograph on the Lunzer 

 Mittersee, by Klausener's studies on the 

 "blood lakes" of the high Alps, by EJratz- 

 schmar's experimental analysis of the poly- 

 morphism of Anurosa aculeaia and by Pro- 



fessor Fisehel's elaborate studies of the 

 intra-vitam staining of Daphnia in which the 

 success of the new intra-vitam stain alazarin 

 is shown. The " Sammelberichte " constitute 

 one of the most useful parts of the journal. 

 They deal with a wide range of subjects, from 

 Brehm's article on the geographical distribu- 

 tion of copepods and their relation to the ice 

 age to Steehe's compressed summary of our 

 present-day knowledge of Hydra and Franz's 

 review of the latest results in the study of the 

 migrations of fishes in the North and Baltic 

 seas, and his discussion of the economic sig- 

 nificance of recent discoveries in the life his- 

 tory of the eel. Of especial service are the 

 authentic summaries of the work of various 

 surveys and explorations, such as Collet's and 

 Scourfield's accounts of the hydrographical, 

 geological and biological results of the all too 

 little known work of the Scottish Lake Sur- 

 vey, Cori's description of the work of the 

 Adria Verein at Trieste, Entz's summary of 

 the Balaton Lake investigations in Hungary, 

 Juday's resume of the exploration of the Wis- 

 consin Natural History Survey, Zschokke's 

 note on the results of the investigations of 

 high alpine waters and Zuelzer's review of 

 the recent work in Germany upon the biology 

 of polluted waters, a subject deserving wider 

 attention in our own country. 



Notices (often illustrated) of the biological 

 stations at Port Erin, Eoscoil, San Diego, 

 Monaco, Lunz, Plon, Sebastopol, of instruc- 

 tion in oceanography and related subjects in 

 universities, of congresses, expeditions, etc., 

 find a fitting place in the several " Hef te " of 

 the Revue. 



The original prospectus included a project 

 for a continuous index of papers received and 

 annual summaries of the year's production in 

 the whole " science of waters." The first part 

 of this program was wisely dropped with the 

 issue of the first Heft, and the second obvi- 

 ously could hardly be completed in 1908. The 

 difficulties which beset even the best organized 

 and longest established " Jahresberichte " in 

 the more centralized fields of research can 

 only be adequately appreciated by those who 

 perform the thankless drudgery of their 

 preparation. In the diiiuse field of hydro- 



